Celluloid Ceiling: Women Film Directors Breaking Through - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0956632904 ISBN 13: 9780956632906

Publisher: Aurora Metro Press, 2014

Synopsis

Highlighting rising women directors alongside ground-breaking pioneers, this is a one-stop guide to the leading women film directors in the 21st century, and those who inspired them. This collection of essays, by an impressive array of international writers, examines the progress of women film directors around the world, and arrives at some surprising conclusions.

From the blockbusters of the Hollywood studios to emerging voices from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Laos, we learn of women making films in traditionally male-dominated areas such as action, fantasy and horror. With wide-ranging contributions from countries with mature and nascent film industries, Celluloid Ceiling demonstrates that economic and technological changes are creating new opportunities for women film directors everywhere.

With contributions from Africa, Latin America, Europe, USA, Asia and India, chapters on new voices in Japanese and Middle Eastern cinema, the book also covers women directors working in TV, and reminds us of the first woman director, Frenchwoman, Alice Guy Blaché. Exploring the rise of the independent film sector including the horror aficionados the Soska Sisters, Celluloid Ceiling asks whether economic and technological change will work to the advantage of women in film.

Celluloid Ceiling follows in the footsteps of Supernova’s Women Make Noise, which lifted the lid on the widespread and destructive misogyny that still plagues the rock music world.

About this title

About the Author

Gabrielle Kelly, screenwriter and producer, has worked in Hollywood on both studio and indie films. Her films include: All the Queen's Men, Stag and D.A.R.Y.L., and the script for All Ages Night, set in the music scene of LA. She developed and edited the industry bible, The Movie Business; a Legal guide with entertainment Lawyer, Kelly Crabb.

Cheryl Robson is a producer of several short independent films, most recently Rock n Roll Island. She worked at the BBC for several years and then taught filmmaking at the University of Westminster, before setting up a theatre company. She also created a publishing company where she has edited over fifty books and published over 150 international writers. As a writer, she has won the Croydon Warehouse International Playwriting Competition and has had several stage plays produced.

Review

"The level of public consciousness about the barriers faced by female filmmakers is higher than it has ever been. Despite this, the discussion more often than not centres around North America and to a lesser extent, Europe, Australia and New Zealand (and I am guilty as charged). This is perfectly understandable, but clearly women do make films outside of these countries, and it can be illuminating to consider how their experiences reflect or differ from those with which we are more familiar.

To this end, the arrival of a new book, "The Celluloid Ceiling," could not be more timely. Edited by Gabrielle Kelly and Cheryl Robson, it takes a purposefully global overview of the status quo and in doing so provides some fascinating stories and insights, reminding us of what is lost when we limit the discussion to Anglophone directors."

- Matthew Hammett Knott, indiewire


"The level of public consciousness about the barriers faced by female filmmakers is higher than it has ever been. Despite this, the discussion more often than not centres around North America and to a lesser extent, Europe, Australia and New Zealand (and I am guilty as charged). This is perfectly understandable, but clearly women do make films outside of these countries, and it can be illuminating to consider how their experiences reflect or differ from those with which we are more familiar.

To this end, the arrival of a new book, "The Celluloid Ceiling," could not be more timely. Edited by Gabrielle Kelly and Cheryl Robson, it takes a purposefully global overview of the status quo and in doing so provides some fascinating stories and insights, reminding us of what is lost when we limit the discussion to Anglophone directors."

- Matthew Hammett Knott, indiewire

About this edition

• Publisher: Aurora Metro Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0956632904
• ISBN 13: 9780956632906
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 388
• Editor: Kelly Gabrielle, Robson Cheryl